Welcome to the Insure.com Insurance Blog: Life Insurance, Health Insurance and Car Insurance news and opinions

The cheapest cars to insure

Joan Michaels — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:18:21 +0000

I don’t mean to toot my own horn here, but it turns out I made a pretty good choice the last time I purchased a vehicle. According to new rankings of car insurance rates from Insure.com, the Honda Odyssey EX is among the least expensive vehicles to insure. More than 2,400 models were surveyed. Like many [...]

California investigating health insurers for illegal business practices

Don Butterfield — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:51:52 +0000

Based on reports that the five largest health insurance companies in California are denying up to 39.6 percent of insurance claims, California’s attorney general recently announced an investigation into potentially illegal business practices. Attorney General Edmund G. Brown, Jr., recently issued a subpoena for financial documents from the seven largest health insurance companies in the state. “We [...]

Don’t kiss that frog!

Joan Michaels — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:37:38 +0000

I’ve always tried to steer my children away from petting zoos that are at carnivals and other events. In my mind, the only place germier than a petting zoo is the pediatrician’s waiting room. Now there’s more evidence that it’s wise to avoid contact with animals that aren’t the family pet: The U.S. Department of Health [...]

Where are your mental health records?

Sierra Black — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:04:37 +0000

Think only your therapist sees your mental health records? Think again. Your mental health records may be shared with your health insurance company, and even with a state agency that oversees your insurer. In New Jersey, state agencies and health insurance companies require psychiatrists and therapists to turn over confidential mental health records for patients [...]

Think your health insurance policy is incoherent? You are correct!

Kat Zeman — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:57:11 +0000

If you’ve ever felt that trying to read your health insurance policy is like deciphering gobbledygook, you’re not alone. DALBAR, Inc., a Boston-based company that evaluates customer-service experiences for the financial services industry, has evaluated 34 leading insurance companies (including the federally funded Medicare program) and found that most of them fail to explain benefits [...]

Insurance makes economic recovery possible for Chile

Kat Zeman — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:27:25 +0000

The catastrophic earthquake that struck central Chile last week is estimated to have caused billions of dollars in insured and economic losses. Insured losses are being estimated between U.S. $2 billion to $8 billion and total economic losses may cost between U.S. $15 billion to $30 billion. If it wasn’t for the highly developed insurance market [...]

Goodbye to the most obnoxious vehicle on the road

Ray Williams — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:52:18 +0000

Farewell, Hummers! I’ll be glad to see you eventually disappear from the road! GM announced last week that the sale of its Hummer brand to a Chinese auto maker fell through after the buyer was unable to get Chinese regulators to approve the sale. No sadness on my part. Hummers are the most obnoxious vehicles on the road, [...]

Sorry dude, find another ride! Tougher laws for teen drivers

Kat Zeman — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:23:30 +0000

A New York law that took effect this month reduces the number of passengers youthful drivers are allowed to have in the car and increases supervised driving hours. If you’re under the age of 21 in New York, you will now only be allowed to have one other non-family passenger in your car. The law also [...]

“Not for public disclosure”

Kathryn Vercillo — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:56:16 +0000

The state of Oregon has done something groundbreaking — and it may be a boon to health insurance consumers everywhere. Oregon’s Insurance Division recently started publishing health insurance rate filings online. What does this mean? Any member of the public now has online access to previously confidential information about rate hikes that insurance companies are [...]

State Farm snags top spot in customer satisfaction survey

Kathryn Vercillo — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:25:30 +0000

When it comes to property and casualty (P&C) insurance, State Farm appears to be leading the way in keeping its customers happy. The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), developed by the University of Michigan, periodically measures consumer satisfaction with products and services – and State Farm recently snagged the top spot for P&C insurance. The economy [...]